Soft luggage with outside pockets

ABSTRACT

Soft luggage has a fabric side wall. Two pockets are stitched to the side wall. Each pocket has a crescent-shaped upper edge and a crescent-shaped lid hinged to the side wall. A slide fastener connects the lid to the crescent-shaped upper edge to close the pocket.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to soft luggage, and more particularly to pocketsthat are mounted on soft luggage and accessible from outside theluggage.

In soft luggage having conventional outside pockets, the access to thepocket is through an opening having a slide fastener that zips straightacross the side wall of the luggage. Access to the pocket requirespulling the fabric away from the side wall. To put articles into thepocket, the fabric is pulled away and the articles are stuffed past theopening. To take articles out, the fabric is pulled away from the sidewall and the operator's hand is forced past the slide fastener to dragthe articles out past the slide fastener.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An objective of the present invention has been to improve the access tothe outside pockets of soft luggage.

The objective of the invention is attained by forming a pocket bystitching fabric to the side wall of the luggage in a U-shaped pattern.The transverse dimension of the fabric, at its opening, is substantiallygreater than the transverse dimension of the U-shaped stitching. Hence,the fabric bulges away from the side wall of the luggage and presents acrescent-shaped upper edge lid having a crescent-shaped free edge ishinged by stitching to the side wall of the luggage. It has acrescent-shaped free edge that aligns with the crescent-shaped upperedge of the pocket. A slide fastener joins the lid-free edge to thepocket upper edge.

The advantage of the pocket structure as described above is that it isvery easy to open, and when open, presents a large area through whichaccess may be had to the interior of the pocket.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The object and features of the invention will become more readilyapparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the luggage having the invention appliedthereto;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 1, soft luggage 10 has a conventional side wall 11. Theside wall has two identical pockets 12 mounted on it and projecting fromit. Each pocket is formed by a pocket fabric 15 attached to the sidewall 11 by stitching in a U-shaped pattern as at 16 to the side wall.The bottom of the pocket and a portion of the lower side portion of eachpocket is formed by a gusset 17. The transverse dimension of the pocketfabric 15, when lying in a plane parallel to the bottom wall, issubstantially greater than the transverse dimension of the U-shapedstitching 16, thereby creating an outwardly-bulging pocket that has acrescent-shaped upper edge 20.

Each pocket has a lid 21 which is stitched along one edge 22 to the sidewall 11, thereby hinging the lid to the side wall. Each lid has acrescent-shaped free edge 23 which is aligned with the crescent-shapedupper edge 20 of the pocket. A slide fastener 25, including an uppertrack 26 and a lower track 27, is mounted on the free edge 23 and upperedge 20 to open and close the pocket.

As can easily be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, when the lid is unzipped fromthe pocket and raised, a very large access opening 30 is presented forreaching into the pocket and for the ease of depositing articles in thepocket as well as withdrawing such articles.

From the above disclosure of the general principles of the presentinvention and the preceding detailed description of a preferredembodiment, those skilled in the art will readily comprehend the variousmodifications to which the present invention is susceptible. Therefore,we desire to be limited only by the scope of the following claims andequivalents thereof:

We claim:
 1. A soft-sided suitcase comprising:a container having a fabric side wall lying in a plane, a formed by pocket fabric pocket wall having a U-shaped edge stitched to said side wall to define a pocket, the transverse dimension of said pocket fabric being substantially greater than the transverse dimension of said U-shaped stitching, thus causing said pocket to bulge outwardly from said container side wall and present a crescent-shaped upper edge defining a wide opening, said pocket having a bottom wall and side walls, said fabric pocket wall including a gusset extending around the bottom and lower portion of the sides of said pocket to form said bottom and side walls to cause the pocket to bulge and create a substantial volume in an unfilled pocket between said pocket wall and said side wall, a lid having one edge stitched to said side wall adjacent said pocket opening, said lid projecting outwardly from said side wall and having a crescent-shaped free edge normally lying adjacent said pocket upper edge, and a slide fastener mounted on said adjacent edges to close said pocket, whereby when said lid is unzipped and said pocket is opening, said lid may be raised along the stitched edge to provide easy access to said pocket and contents contained therein through the wide opening of said pocket.
 2. A suitcase as in claim 1 in which two identical pockets as defined in claim 1 are mounted side-by-side on said side wall. 